Fresh
by HopeCoppice
Summary: Follow-up to 'UCAS'. Slash.


**A follow-up to 'UCAS', which takes place some time later. It's Fresher's Week here, so enjoy. SLASH. Drunken, crazy slash.**

**Disclaimer: Not miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.**

Bertrand was trying to find Vlad to give him a book he thought might be useful to him, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. He tried the training room, the throne room, his room, the Blood Cellar, and even Erin's old room. It wasn't until he made his way to the kitchen, however, that he finally found the Chosen One.

"Vlad? Is something wrong?" The younger vampire barely looked up before he was standing, striding through the corridors as Bertrand followed him.  
"No. Everything's fine. What do you want?" Bertrand held up the book, a peace offering; he wasn't sure why Vlad was so annoyed but he didn't want that fury aimed at him.  
"Just thought you might want this for your course. You get your first assignment soon, don't you?"  
Vlad took the book with a heavy sigh as they reached his room, sitting down with the Politics textbook on his lap. "Thanks."

Bertrand knew he should leave, but he found himself perching on the edge of the sofa next to his student as the door swung closed behind them.  
"Are you worried about it? You needn't be-"  
"No, I'm not worried."  
"Then what's wrong?" Vlad rolled his eyes, finally blurting out what was on his mind.  
"It's fresher's week! I should be out getting drunk and shagging randoms!"

Bertrand winced; of course, all his friends from school were arriving on campus all over the country now, ready for a week-long party. Erin was beginning her studies in Edinburgh and had, no doubt, spent the fortnight before she left raving about the university experience to Vlad. The Open University, however academically perfect for vampires, was unable to offer that.

"I know you feel like you're missi-" Bertrand stopped as he moved his foot slightly and heard a clink. Reaching down, he retrieved a bottle of soy blood from the floor. It had a tiny black asterisk marked on the label, and Bertrand glanced from it to his student and back again, reluctantly impressed. "Well, it doesn't seem like you have to pass up on the getting drunk part."  
Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Alone? Yeah, great fun."

"Well... I suppose I could stay if you want company." Vlad grinned, producing more bottles from various corners of his room, and Bertrand sighed; he had a feeling he'd just played right into the hands of one of Vlad's typically manipulative schemes. This was confirmed when Vlad handed him a bottle of Bar Fly, as opposed to the spiked soy blood he'd amassed for himself.  
"Vlad, why do you have real alcoholic blood in your room?" The Chosen One looked a little embarrassed.  
"I was hoping you'd stay. It's only mild, that stuff, we're not getting completely wasted."

Bertrand shrugged; he wasn't going to turn down blood. They clinked bottles and took a few sips, but then Vlad came up with a brilliant idea. One that he'd just thought of at that very moment, honestly.  
"Why don't we play 'I have never'?"

* * *

An hour later, they were pretty drunk, and were playing Strip Magic-Cards. Bertrand wasn't sure how that state of affairs had come about, but he _did_ know that they were both having trouble remembering the rules. So far, due to a general confusion over who was winning, neither of them had taken off more than their jackets. Vlad smiled boozily at his tutor.  
"This isn't working. Can we just... you know?"

Bertrand didn't know, and he said so. "You're going to have to be more specific."  
"I'm meant to be getting drunk and shagging, right?" Vlad waited expectantly for him to catch on, then rolled his eyes and continued. "And I'm kinda drunk. So can we just do the other thing now?" His tutor stared at him, eyes widening as the words penetrated his slightly hazy mind.  
"You're not serious." The crushed expression on his student's face told him he was.  
"Well, yeah, that's why I wanted you to stay. 'S why I got the Bar Fly and everything. I know everyone else is shagging randoms but I didn't want a random, I wanted... want you."

Bertrand was silent for slightly too long and the younger vampire turned away, looking sickened. "Stupid idea, I know." The tutor wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the sheer temptation of having Vlad offer himself to him like that, offer him what he'd never even dared to fantasise about, but he found himself pulling the boy towards him, tasting the soy blood on his lips, watching his eyes turn black as he got a hint of the blood Bertrand had been drinking. Strangely, though there was still a half-empty bottle of Bar Fly within a metre of the boy, he made no move towards it, grabbing onto Bertrand instead and holding him in place as he crawled onto his lap and continued to kiss him.

* * *

When Bertrand woke up, he was conscious of having a pounding headache, the taste of blood in his mouth, and the weight of a cold body on top of him. His immediate thought was that he must have broken the truce, and Vlad was going to have him slain for it. Then the body shifted slightly, mumbling something, and he realised it _was _Vlad. He hastily pulled his hands out from where they were tangled in the young vampire's hair, and did a quick inspection for damage.

His student's shirt was nowhere to be seen, and his belt appeared to be draped over the back of the sofa, but at least the boy's trousers were on. Bertrand didn't think Vlad was awake yet, or he probably would have moved the moment he became aware of the way a certain part of his anatomy was pressing into Bertrand's leg. Bertrand blinked, suddenly noticing that his own shirt was dangling from the light fitting over Vlad's closed coffin. What had happened last night?

Vlad stirred just then, and Bertrand felt him tense as he gradually became conscious of his surroundings. As predicted, he yelped and fell off the sofa in his hurry to put some distance between himself and his tutor. After a few moments of just sitting on the floor, blinking and holding his head, he met Bertrand's eyes, looking embarrassed.  
"Hey."

Bertrand cleared his throat, sitting up carefully. "Did we...?"  
"No." Vlad shook his head emphatically, then winced. "No, you said something about being sober."  
That was a relief, at least. The older vampire stood and reached up to pull his shirt down from where it was hanging, slipping it on. Vlad looked around helplessly, but couldn't see his own top and had to settle for dragging a jacket on instead.

"I'm sorry. It was unprofessional of me to get drunk with you." Vlad stared at him. There was a lot of staring this morning; neither of them were really running at full mental capacity.  
"I shouldn't have asked you to."  
"I apologise for my actions; if I hadn't been under the influence I would never have taken advantage of your intoxication like that." Vlad rolled his eyes.  
"Bertrand, as you've observed before, I can be very manipulative when the mood takes me. I brought the Bar Fly here for a reason, I knew what I was doing and I knew what I wanted. I should be apologising to you, even if you _did_ manage to stay sober enough not to give me what I was after."

There was silence for a moment as Bertrand tried to make sense of that statement. It was difficult, given the pounding in his head. Gradually, he managed to piece it together with what Vlad had been saying the night before.  
"You were after a random sexual encounter." The frustrated growl from Vlad told him he hadn't quite got the right end of the stick.  
"No, I wanted _you_. I've wanted you for ages, last night just seemed like the only way I was going to have a chance. And even that didn't work, because you're a bloody gentleman even when you're drunk and when you're not drunk you're not interested."

That couldn't be allowed to pass unchallenged.  
"The only part of that situation I'm not interested in is being accused of taking advantage of my student. Worse, I couldn't bear it if I really did." And then Vlad was pulling himself to his feet, standing too close. Bertrand could have closed the gap between their bodies without even really moving, if Vlad hadn't done it first, pressing his lips to the older vampire's neck and holding him close.  
"I thought you didn't want me." Somehow, in this slightly hazy, painfully hungover moment, it was easy to tell him what he'd resisted admitting for so long.  
"I'll always want you."

They'd be sober soon enough.


End file.
